The first signs of
rebellion among President Robert Mugabe's supporters haveemerged with
threats of an uprising by members of the youth militia
hecreated.

Jabulani Sibanda, the chairman of Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party in Bulawayo, wasforced to lock himself in a lavatory at his office
last week when he wasthreatened by a knife-wielding gang from the Green
Bombers, the officialname for the force.

One militia commander, who
asked to be known only as David, said he hadorchestrated the attack "to show
our bosses how angry and hungry we are, andthat they are no longer
safe".

They are furious at being left with no pay and little food after
waging thebrutal campaign that helped keep Mr Mugabe in power in Zimbabwe's
Marchpresidential election.

David said he was discussing with senior
colleagues from other battalions aviolent uprising that would topple Mr
Mugabe. "There is no end to this whilehe is in power," he said. "Even if we
tried to leave the militia, ourcolleagues would be ordered to find us and
kill us."

In a frank interview with The Telegraph, David and two of his
men admittedtheir violent role in the election build-up. They spoke of
trying to kill anopposition MP, on the orders of government ministers, after
the falsepromise that they would receive cash and land seized from white
farmers."We've turned ourselves into killers and thugs - and for what?"
asked David,35. "We have no money, no jobs and no future. All we have is
hungry stomachsand bad dreams about what we've done."

He described
the missions of murder, abduction and arson on which he sentyoung men and
women earlier this year to help keep Mr Mugabe in power. "Wedid everything
they wanted," he said. "We won the election for them, butthey have treated
us no better than donkeys. They have used us and thrown usaway."

The
40,000-strong youth militia was formed as part of the re-introduction
of compulsory national service in 2000 and reports directly to the
government.

At camps across the country, thousands of young men and women
have receivedpolitical indoctrination and training in weapons, torture and
violence.

During the election campaign, they were ruthless. Unhampered by
threat ofarrest, and often drunk or high on drugs, they unleashed terror
andintimidation on voters and political rivals.

Now they are
resentful of their bosses' neglect. Sam, 19, was part of thegang that
attacked the Bulawayo party chief. He said: "Every month we aretold the same
- that the money will come, but it never comes."

A comrade, Joshua, 21,
added: "We are nothing to them." David and the othertwo talked freely about
their brutal campaigns. David had assigned Sam - "amore naturally merciless
man" - to the "killing gang", while Joshua had beenconfined to "abduction
and arson".

Joshua revealed that he had helped to raze St Peter's
village, nearBulawayo, after its inhabitants failed to turn up to a Zanu-PF
electionrally.

Sam admitted trying to murder David Mpala, an MP for
the opposition Movementfor Democratic Change, in March after being offered a
cash reward.

"I stabbed the man and ran away, certain he was dead," Sam
confessed,unwilling to make eye contact. "But some people from a village
found him andtook him to hospital. I never got paid after it was reported in
thenewspaper that he had lived."

David said the three of them had
witnessed the attack on Martin Olds - oneof the first white farmers killed -
in April 2000. He died after holding off70 raiders during a two-hour siege
at his farm in Matabeleland.

"I was driving the Jeep to bring the militia
in," said David. They had gonethere to help the self-styled "war veterans",
who were on a mission to seizeland.

"We had orders from the highest
level that someone important wanted MrOlds's land," said David. "He was also
a supporter of the MDC, we weretold." After the farmer was killed, the
militia helped to loot the farm.

A year later, Mr Olds's mother Gloria,
68, was also shot dead by warveterans.

David said: "I think that
woman had become an irritation to our bosses. Shewas outspoken and a
supporter of the MDC. That's why they wanted her out ofthe way."

Sam
said: "We didn't always agree when we were told that the white men wereour
enemies and that they had stolen from us in the past and now we had tosteal
from them. A lot of them did good things for the black people. Theygave them
work and built schools and clinics."

David said he had been promised £30
a month to command a 500-strong group,but had never received the full amount
and had not been paid since February.He said Sam and Joshua had received £5
on joining the militia, but nothingsince.

Before the election in
March, life had been easier. The militia, housed incamps around the country,
had been given three meals a day, beer and variousnarcotics.

"We had
to have full bellies and to be drunk or high on drugs to carry outour jobs,"
said Sam. "We had everything we needed so we didn't notice themoney so
much."

Now, the atmosphere at the camps has worsened. Food is scarce and
thedormitories are full of resentful, hungry young people, plagued by
drugwithdrawal symptoms and restless nights spent reflecting on their
crimes.

"I want to be paid so that I can go and see an inyanga
[traditional healer]and be cleansed," said Joshua. "I feel the spirits of
the people I haveharmed visiting me all the time. I want to go back to being
a nice man - theman I was before."

Council elections will be held in
August, however, and militia members areagain under pressure to intimidate
voters and break up opposition rallies.Zanu-PF chiefs have visited the camps
for the first time for months, seekingto whip up support and to crush any
opposition.

"I don't want to do those things any more," said Sam. "My
parents are sounhappy."

David added: "We're in a jail of our own -
never free to leave and alwaysbeing punished for what we do. We'll never
have our lives back until Mugabeis gone."

THE leader of a troubled central African nation has
said hisprogressive policies will ensure that his people will never again
facehunger or be made slaves of colonial imperialist war
mongers.

Speaking in a foreign country famous for changing
governments andlosing wars, the most equal of all comrades vowed that new
policies in thetroubled central African country would ensure full bellies
for all thepeople of his village.

Still, the visit from the
most equal of all comrades was not entirelywelcome. While several
continental compatriots shook his hand in themistaken belief that he was the
man who'd slipped a pair of Guccis undertheir pillows the previous night,
representatives of the wealthier nationssaid they were not happy to be seen
in his company.

Having spent almost 80 years battling to eradicate
communism, leadersfrom both sides of the Atlantic said it was a bit much to
have to start allover again.

But the most equal of all comrades
remained unrepentant, vowing tocontinue with the collectivisation of all
farms. This would allow the massesto toil in honest Marxist labour to ensure
overflowing plates for all peoplein his village. "Hardship is intrinsic to
the proletariat's struggle againstthe democratic bourgeoisie," he said. "We
will never surrender until we haveattained our highest goal, the goal
aspired to by all true peasants, workersand the secret police: the
dictatorship of the proletariat."

Asked who or what the proletariat
was, the most equal of all comradessaid, "That's the easy bit. It's
me."

Still, a hungry resident in a remote northern district of the
troubledcentral African nation was emphatic in his whispered criticism of
the mostequal of all comrades. "If that fool thinks his plan is going to
work, he'sgot another thing coming," said the man who refused to be named
and refusedto speak above a whisper for fear of being murdered in his bed by
thevanguards of socialist reformation. "For three months I've been working
on aroad gang under one of the most equal of all comrade's so-called 'food
forwork programmes' without receiving so much as a maize pip in return and
asfar as I'm concerned I'm not lifting another finger to help
him."

Meanwhile, a man standing nearby in dark glasses and a cheap
nylonsuite took notes before wandering over and explaining that the food for
workprogramme was entirely legitimate. "You do the work and the food goes to
themost qual of all comrade's village. That's how socialism truly works,"
heexplained. "And if I hear any more of this subversive nonsense I
shallpersonally visit your village and remove your toenails one by one in
aneffort to explain the advantages of progressive reform."

With
that, the unnamed whisperer jumped onto a passing bus and headedfor the
troubled central African country's capital city where he had heardpeople
opposed to the most equal of all comrades outnumbered Zany partysupporters
and the secret police by 10,000 to one. "Sod this for a lark," hesaid, "From
now on I'll make my living on the streets like everyone else.

They
say the streets of the capital are paved with unemployed beggars,thieves and
their glue sniffing offspring, but at least they've got alltheir
toenails."

Still, when the unnamed whisperer arrived in the capital
he waspleasantly surprised to find that the streets of the capital, while
indeedpaved with beggars, thieves and glue sniffers, were also paved with
newfarmers who found life on the streets a better prospect than growing
maizein winter for the most equal of all comrades' eccentric
agricultureminister.

"At least this way we get the occasional
sandwich from passingmotorists," he said. "It's a lot more than we were
going to get out there."

LESS than a month ago, you could buy an American dollar
for aboutZ$350. That same dollar now costs about Z$730-and it's rising
fast.

Meanwhile the South African Rand, hardly the world's most
sought aftercurrency, costs a staggering Z$75. We know of no country in the
world whichhas gone downhill so quickly and in so short a
time.

All this is happening on what the government calls the
parallelmarket.

The Standard won't use the same silly euphemism
and will instead callit what it is: the black market. It is a market the
government, right up tofinance minister Simba Makoni, treats with cynical
hypocrisy, attempting tostamp it out on the one hand and denying its
existence on the other.

Everyone knows who is to blame for the
meltdown of Zimbabwe'seconomy-and most people know that this is just the
beginning. It will getworse and inflation, now at an official 122%, will
before much longer runaway completely. People already facing hunger because
of President RobertMugabe's brutal seizure of commercial farms will soon be
unable to afford tobuy what little food trickles into this
country.

For ordinary Zimbabweans, daily hardships are intense: no
jobs, nomoney for transport, prohibitive costs and scarcity of life-saving
drugs,unaffordable education costs, poor diets, rising prices, the killer
diseaseAids-the litany of hardships is endless. What will it take next for
thisgovernment to wake up from its deep slumber and face the reality? This
is anunspeakable tragedy which will be remembered for a very long time to
come.

To say that what President Mugabe and his cronies have done
toZimbabwe is sick is to underestimate the situation. In
destroyingagriculture they have destroyed the economy. Zimbabwe's
agriculture is now ashadow of its former self. Investment is dead in the
water because of thechaos that has reigned for more than two years
now.

Despite all this, the state's lumbering propaganda machine
continuesto pretend that all will be well, that far from destroying
agriculture,President Mugabe has saved Zimbabwe from colonial domination and
that theso-called new farmers will soon be providing more food than
commercialfarmers were ever able to.

Of course, that's a
blatant lie. The new farmers, wherever they are,will be seriously
disadvantaged before they even begin. Their farms, evenunder the A2 scheme,
are small, they have little access to capital and theylack machinery. On top
of that, they're being asked to share resources.

In short, both the
A1 and A2 model are an ill-conceived, disorderlyand the damage to farming
infrastructure, skills and innovation is starringus in the
face.

It is almost a banality to talk about the necessity of an
equitableand just redistribution of land in Zimbabwe. All parties
includingcommercial farmers are agreed about this. But it need not have been
done insuch a chaotic and destructive manner.

Still, the death
of agriculture so carefully engineered by the rulingparty was just the death
knell of an economy already destined to collapsethrough Zanu PF's greed.
Involvement in the DRC war bringing wealth to analready comfortably cosseted
elite, brought only additional hardship toordinary Zimbabweans, while
President Mugabe's pandering to the lunaticfringe in the war veterans'
association sparked the first economic veld fireand signalled the
president's complete contempt of economic responsibility.

But this
time it's far worse. This time recovery will require nothingshort of a
miracle-or the collapse of the sinister regime, if no urgentself-correcting
process takes place. In that, there is enormous irony,because only by
removing the system can the country be saved. It is like avirus that feeds
off the people in order to grow fat and shiny, but the moreit destroys, the
more brutal it must become in order to sustain itself.

Still, Zanu
PF's tenacity and guile should never be underestimated.The manner in which
it destroyed commercial agriculture showed that theparty is unafraid of
murdering and unleashing violence in order to get itsway. But countering the
bloodshed on the country's once thriving farms was amaster strategy that saw
many of the farmers agreeing to extortions ofvarious kinds.

By
inserting 'agents of influence' into farmers' ranks, the rulingparty ensured
that the Commercial Farmers' Union behaved in a manner thatwould lead to its
downfall. It takes two to create corruption.

That all this economic
mismanagement preceded a drought onlyhighlights Zanu PF's arrogance and
contempt for the people. Food securityexperts warn that Zimbabwe faces a
crisis of 'Ethiopian proportions' and forthat there is no excuse. After all,
this country should be able to feeditself, even in a drought, and when it
can't feed itself it should be ableto pay for food imports.

Right now it is unable to do either and if there was even a hint ofhonour
among Zimbabwe's rulers, both agriculture minister Joseph Made andfinance
minister Simba Makoni would resign. In fact, the game should havebeen up for
these two men a year or so ago.

Joseph Made, along with other
visitors in Zanu PF such as JonathanMoyo and Patrick Chinamasa, have
contributed immensely to the swelling ofpublic discontent creating a huge
reservoir of bitterness and resentment inthe process.

Zimbabweans won't hold their collective breath because they know
thatresigning a ministerial post means abandoning the gravy train. Instead
theproblems will be blamed, implausibly, on the distant British, European
andAmerican government, on commercial farmers and on the opposition-and
allthis will continue until the people themselves force the gravy train to
astandstill.

If one conclusion stands out of the meltdown of
Zimbabwe's economy, itis that events have taken control. Government is no
longer in the drivingseat. It is locked in a confused mode, unsure which way
to turn, how torespond to the crisis and what solution to try
next.

CHIPINGE-Zanu PF, which has since independence in 1980
failed topenetrate Chipinge South, is now contemplating declaring the late
ZanuNdonga leader, Rev Ndabaningi Sithole, a national hero in an effort
toplacate angry Ndonga traditionalists.

Last week, at the
burial of David Zamchiya, a former Zanu Ndongaactivist and prominent Harare
lawyer who died in a car crash, reliablesources within Zanu PF told The
Standard that the Zanu PF provincialleadership would soon approach President
Mugabe with a request to haveSithole declared a national
hero.

"As long as Sithole is not declared a national hero, we
will not winthe support of people in Chipinge," said a senior Zanu PF
official.

But Chipinge villagers dismissed the rumours with regard
to Sithole ascheap politicking which would not serve to pacify
them.

They said they found it surprising that Zanu PF had declared
Zamchiyaa liberation hero while failing to recognise the achievements of the
lateSithole. Zamchiya, they said, had been a mere legal advisor to Sithole
who,among other achievements, had been the founding leader of Zanu, later
ZanuPF.

"How can they declare Zamchiya a hero when musharukwa
Sithole is lyinghere with no recognition whatsoever from the state?. This is
sheerhypocrisy," said a villager at Checheche growth point.

"If
they (Zanu PF) are trying to win support from Chipinge bydeclaring Zamchiya
a hero, they simply won't succeed," declared anothervillage elder who is a
staunch Zanu Ndonga supporter.

United Church of Christ leader in
Zimbabwe, Rev Murombedzi Kuchera,told mourners at the funeral that it was
now proving almost impossible forpeople in Chipinge to be declared national
heroes, regardless of theircontribution to the liberation of the
country.

"People in Chipinge are not getting national hero status
although theydeserve it. They will have to work extra hard to be
recognised," he said inan apparent reference to the late
Sithole.

Kuchera said Zamchiya, a former senator and permanent
secretary in theministry of justice, legal and parliamentary affairs,
deserved to be buriedat the National Heroes Acre in Harare.

Muchinguri tried to calm people's emotions by saying that althoughZamchiya
had not been declared a national hero locally, he would be declareda
"national hero in heaven" because of his contribution to the developmentof
the country.

He said as chairman of Barclays Bank, Zamchiya had
facilitated thecontribution of over 30 000 tonnes of maize meal to Cyclone
Eline victims inManicaland.

The world's leading expert on the causes of
famine, Nobel prize-winningeconomist Amartya Sen, answers crucial questions
on why people starve whendemocracy falters

Observer
Worldview

Sunday June 16, 2002The Observer

Why, in the
twenty-first century, are 800 million people living in theshadow of
hunger?Widespread hunger in the world is primarily related to poverty. It is
notprincipally connected with food production at all. Indeed, over the
courseof the last quarter of a century, the prices of the principal staple
foods(such as rice, wheat etc) have fallen by much more than half in
'real'terms. If there is more demand for food, in the present state of
worldtechnology and availability of resources, the production
willcorrespondingly increase.

The demand for food is restrained
mainly by lack of income. And the samefactor explains the large number of
people who are hungry across the world.Given their income levels, they are
not able to buy enough food, and as aconsequence these people (including
their family members) live with hunger.

But it is not adequate to look
only at incomes. There is need to look alsoat the political circumstances
that allow famine and hunger. If the survivalof a government is threatened
by the prevalence of hunger, the governmenthas an incentive to deal with the
situation. Incomes can be expanded both bypolicies that raise overall income
and also by redistributive policies whichprovide employment, and thus tackle
one of the principal reasons for hunger(to wit, unemployment in a country
without an adequate social securitysystem).

In democratic countries,
even very poor ones, the survival of the rulinggovernment would be
threatened by famine, since elections are not easy towin after famines; nor
is it easy to withstand criticism of oppositionparties and newspapers. That
is why famine does not occur in democraticcountries. Unfortunately, there
are a great many countries in the worldwhich do not yet have democratic
systems.

Indeed, as a country like Zimbabwe ceases to be a functioning
democracy, itsearlier ability to avoid famines in very adverse food
situations (for whichZimbabwe had an excellent record in the 1970s and
1980s) becomes weakened. Amore authoritarian Zimbabwe is now facing
considerable danger of famine.

Alas, hunger in the non-acute form of
endemic under-nourishment often turnsout to be not particularly politically
explosive. Even democraticgovernments can survive with a good deal of
regular under-nourishment. Forexample, while famines have been eliminated in
democratic India (theydisappeared immediately in 1947, with Independence and
multi-partyelections), there is a remarkable continuation of endemic
under-nourishmentin a non-acute form.

Deprivation of this kind can
reduce life expectancy, increase the rate ofmorbidity, and even lead to
under-development of mental capacities ofchildren. If the political parties
do not succeed in making endemic hungerinto a politically active issue,
hunger in this non-acute form can go oneven in democratic
countries.

What should rich countries do, and is trade liberalisation the
answer?

The rich countries can do a great deal to reduce hunger in the
world. First,the displacement of democracies in poor countries, particularly
in Africa,often occurred during the Cold War with the connivance of the
great powers.Whenever a military strongman displaced a democratic
government, the newmilitary dictatorship tended to get support from the
Soviet Union (if thenew military rulers were pro-Soviet) or from the United
States and itsallies (if the new rulers were anti-Soviet and pro-West). So
there isculpability on the part of the dominant powers in the world, given
pasthistory, and there is some responsibility now for rich countries to
helpfacilitate the expansion of democratic governance in the
world.

Second, hunger is related to low income and often to unemployment.
Povertycould be very substantially reduced if the richer countries were
morewelcoming to imports from poorer countries, rather than shutting them
out bytariff barriers and other exclusions. Fairer trade can reduce poverty
in thepoor countries (as the recent Oxfam report Rigged Rules, Double
Standardsdiscusses in detail).

Third, there is a need for a global
alliance not just to combat terrorism inthe world, but also for positive
goals, such as combating illiteracy andreducing preventable illnesses that
so disrupt economic and social lives inthe poorer countries.

Trade
liberalisation on the part of the richer countries could certainlymake a
difference to employment and income prospects of poorer countries.The
situation is a little more complex in the case of liberalisation of
thepoorer countries. Even those countries which have greatly benefited from
theexpansion of world trade (such as South Korea or China) often went
through aphase of protecting industries before vigorous expansion of exports
andtrade. So, trade liberalisation is partly an answer, but the economic
stepsinvolved have to be carefully assessed: the policies cannot be driven
bysimple slogans.

What is the solution?

There is no 'magic
bullet' to deal with the entrenched problem of hunger inthe world. It
requires political leadership in encouraging democraticgovernments in the
world, including support for multi-party elections, openpublic discussions,
elimination of press censorship, and also economicsupport for independent
news media and rapid dissemination of informationand analysis. It also
requires visionary economic policies which bothencourage trade (especially
allowing exports from poorer countries into themarkets of the rich), but
also reforms (involving patent laws, technologytransfer etc.) to
dramatically reduce deprivation in the poorer countries.

The problem of
hunger has to be seen as being embedded in larger issues ofglobal poverty
and deprivation.

Countries of the South increasingly seek food
self-sufficiency. Could thissolve the problem of hunger and
starvation?

Food self-sufficiency is a peculiarly obtuse way of thinking
about foodsecurity. There is no particular problem, even without
self-sufficiency, inachieving nutritional security through the elimination
of poverty (so thatpeople can buy food) and through the availability of food
in the worldmarket (so that countries can import food if there is not an
adequate stockat home).

The two problems get confused, because many
countries which are desperatelypoor also happen to earn most of their income
from food production. This isthe case, for example, for many countries in
Africa. But if these countrieswere able to produce a good deal of income
(for example throughdiversification of production, including
industrialisation), they can becomefree of hunger even without producing all
the food that is needed fordomestic consumption. The focus has to be on
income and entitlement, and theability to command food rather than on any
fetishist concern about foodself-sufficiency.

There are situations in
which self-sufficiency is important, such as duringwars. At one stage in the
Second World War, there was a real danger ofBritain not being able to get
enough food into the country. But that is avery peculiar situation, and we
are not in one like that now, nor are welikely to be in the near future. The
real issue is whether a country canprovide enough food for its citizens -
either from domestic production orimports or both - and that is a very
different issue from self-sufficiency.We have to look at ways and means of
eliminating poverty, and to undertakethe economic, social and political
processes that can achieve that.

· Amartya Sen, who won the Nobel Prize
in Economics in 1998, is Master ofTrinity College, Cambridge. This is a
longer version of an article, expandedby the author, that appeared last week
in Le Monde.

THE Zimbabwe dollar continued its slide against major
currenciesending the week at Z$730 to the US dollar.

Two weeks
ago, the Zimbabwe dollar crashed by more than $500 againstone US unit, and
$50 against the South African rand, despite the onset ofthe tobacco
marketing season which was expected to ease the situation.

However, the trend continues unabated with the South African randsoaring to
a high of 75 against the dollar.

Despite the dollar's free fall on
the thriving black market,government remains unmoved and the local unit is
still firmly pegged at $55against the greenback, $80 against the pound
sterling and $5 against therand.

The continued slide of the
dollar on the black market, the only viablesource of forex at the moment
since government coffers have run dry, isbound to add to the woes of
Zimbabwe's long suffering masses.

Perhaps the most important sector
to be severely tested will be thatof energy. With both the national oil
procurement company, Noczim, and powerutility, Zesa, sourcing their forex on
the black market, consumers shouldexpect an increase in products from that
sector.

An analyst with the National Discount House (NDH) said
since Noczimwas obtaining foreign currency from the parallel market at such
exorbitantrates, a fuel price hike was imminent.

"The price of
fuel will go up since the cost of fuel will be high,"said the
analyst.

Godfrey Kanyenze, an economist with the Zimbabwe Congress
of TradeUnions, said: "The ordinary man is going to feel the effects of
furtherinflation because input prices are going to be high and this will
erode theconsumer's spending power."

Kanyenze said the solution
to the distortion of currency rates lay inthe restoration of ties with the
international community.

"We still insist that the most immediate
solution deals withgovernment restoring relations with the IMF and the World
Bank so that weget forex. There is need to address the issue of supply.
Export earnings arehardly sufficient and the little on the market will fetch
a premium," saidKanyenze .

He said he was concerned about
Zimbabwe's future as it continued toalienate itself from other trading
partners.

"I don't know whether we will survive. We need the rest
of the world.China is coming into the World Trade Organisation and Russia is
movingtowards the west and we are going the opposite
direction."

Cross border trading which of late reported brisk
business is likelyto be undermined by the fall of the dollar, especially
against the rand.

ZAKA, Masvingo-As government winds up its accelerated land
seizureexercise, thousands of villagers and desperate farm workers have been
leftin the cold while most of the prime farming land has gone to
theundeserving, The Standard has learnt.

"The so-called
fast-track land reform programme swept past us like awhirlwind," Magombedze
Magura, a kraal head in the dry Zaka communal areasaid last
week.

Magura's homestead is perched on a small hilltop, close
to theJerera-Chiredzi highway, and like many other drought-stricken
villagers whoreside in this part of the country, he does his farming in the
hills.

Their area is only five kilometres away from a block of
commercialfarms which were compulsorily seized for resettlement by the
government.None of Magura's people have benefited from the exercise except
one warveteran who allocated himself a plot on a farm close to his
home.

The war veteran, who is now a base commander on the farm,
chased awayvillagers who had earlier chosen that piece of land for
themselves.

"I think they (government) are not brave enough to come
to us and tellus that they have the land for themselves. We have waited for
a long time toget somewhere to plant our crops but to no avail," says
Magura, wiping sweatfrom his face.

"We hear they have another
programme for the better off urban dwellerswhile the rural people for whom
land is the primary source of income goempty-handed," he adds, his wrinkled
face betraying deep-rooted frustration.

In many other rural
districts of the country, it's the same story forcommunal people with no
political connections.

"We have nothing to show for our stay on the
farms as we have had nowater, clinics and schools for our children for over
two years. We were justused as pawns by Zanu PF in its desperation to ward
off a stiff challengefrom the opposition Movement for Democratic Change,"
says Johaness Ndoro,one of the villagers who was last week evicted from a
farm near Chivhu.

Last month, government instructed all peasants
who had invaded farmsafter March 2001 to return to where they had come from
originally.

"When Mugabe was campaigning, he actually praised us
for expressingour desire for land through our occupation of the farms. He
never told us wewould be evicted two months after the election but I had all
along heardpeople saying muZanu tamba wakachenjera (you have to treat Zanu
withsuspicion) without thinking seriously about it, but now I understand
what itmeans," Ndoro adds.

Now the 57-year-old-man has to go
back to his rural home to face thescorn of fellow villagers who warned him
against taking part in the farmoccupations. They had tried to stop him from
leaving his rural home arguingthat Zanu PF would dump him once it won the
election.

"Because I genuinely needed land, I decided to go and
stay in theforest, safeguarding the piece of land I intended to farm on for
the rest ofmy life," he says.

He leaves behind a deep well he
had dug in his new yard, some cattleand goat pens and 10 hectares of cleared
farm land.

Unbeknown to Ndoro, while he was clearing the land, a
top governmentofficial who went through all the "formalities of applying for
land" throughthe district administrator's office in Harare was being
allocated his plot.

"I feel as used as a condom. I did all the
donkey's work with my handsthinking that I had secured a good piece of land,
only to be evicted by thisregime," he says.

It's not just the
peasants who have found no joy in the land reformexercise.

Many
farm workers, whose existence is closely tied to the farms, arereduced to
squatters every time a farm owner loses his land.

While war
veterans were given special preference in the distributionexercise, farm
workers, who were accused of ganging up with their whiteemployers in support
of the MDC, were not accorded the same treatment.

Despite
government promises that they would get land, the majority arenow
destitute.

Says Gift Muti, the grassroots co-ordinator of the
General Agricultureand Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPUWZ): "There
was no specialprovision for the workers as government had promised. The few
farm workerswho managed to get land did so through their own initiative. The
majorityare surviving from hand to mouth. Those who are lucky to be close to
soilswith alluvial gold have turned to gold panning for
survival."

What makes the plight of farm workers even more pathetic
is that asmigrant workers, they do not have identity documents.

"They do not have land, citizenship status and in some cases hope of areturn
to their past stable lives on the farms. It's a sad situation,"
hesays.

The new farm owners, mainly Zanu PF officials and war
veterans, do notwant to employ farm workers whom they believe voted for MDC.
Neither do theyhave the capacity and wherewithal to pay and look after them
like theirprevious owners.

While farm workers and peasants like
Ndoro count their loses, manyZanu PF officials, war veterans and
businesspeople who benefited from theprogramme, are now contemplating what
to do with their vast tracks of land.

Most of them either had farms
before the fast track land reformexercise. Topping the list of people who
obtained land ahead of desperatepeasants and farm workers are vice
presidents Simon Muzenda and Joseph Msikaas well as several ministers and
governors.

Senior civil servants and army personnel and Police
CommissionerAugustine Chihuri are also proud owners of land, as are many
other peoplewell-connected to government.

"We hope one day, by
the grace of the Lord, we will have a fair andtransparent land reform
exercise which will cater for us all," said adistraught farm worker.

European heads of government meet in
Seville next week to raise the walls ofFortress Europe ever higher. In this
major essay to mark Refugee Week, thehead of the Refugee Council says that
there can be an alternative to ourshameful treatment of those who seek
refuge here

Asylum myths and reality: Observer special

Nick
HardwickSunday June 16, 2002

Asylum and immigration will be at the
top of the agenda as Tony Blair meetshis fellow European heads of government
in Seville on Thursday. The Britishgovernment is at the forefront of those
wishing to raise the walls ofFortress Europe higher and higher.With
bitter irony, the summit takes place during Refugee Week here in theUK.
Thousands of people, up and down the UK, will be taking part in hundredsof
events to celebrate the strength and resilience of refugees themselvesand
pay tribute to those who ensure that refugees can find sanctuary and
awelcome here if they are forced to flee their homes.

The day before
the summit is UN Refugee Day itself. It marks the fact thatsince the Geneva
Convention on Refugees was signed in 1951, literallymillions of people
worldwide have been saved from persecution because theyhave been able to
obtain asylum in another country. It is the most effectiveof all the human
rights conventions.

These things are worth celebrating.

Too often
we talk about refugees as victims and in terms of what they need.But
refugees are survivors, not victims; contributors, not takers. Refugeeshave,
by definition, survived persecution in their own countries. Theirsurvival is
in itself a victory against the torturers, the dictators and thefanatics.
They have also survived epic journeys - men, women and children -walking
across deserts, crossing continents hidden in the backs of lorriesand
hanging on to trains, braving the seas crammed into death-traprust-buckets.
All of this at the mercy of the criminal gangs who organisethe human
smuggling trade.

And, once in the UK, refugees do survive everything the
system and the mediacan throw at them.

This is not a new phenomenon.
Just as EU leaders meet in Seville this week,governments met at an
international conference in Evian in 1938 to plan howthe flow of refugees
could be stemmed. Frank Roberts, a senior official inthe Foreign Office
stated in May 1944, the point at which Hungarian Jewswere being openly
transported to Auschwitz and the gas chambers were workingat full capacity:
'The Allies rather resent the suggestion that Jews inparticular have been
more heroic or long-suffering than other nationals ofoccupied
countries'.

In truth, every group of refugees who have arrived in Britain
over thecenturies have had to overcome hostility and prejudice and every
group ofrefugees have gone on to make an enormous economic and cultural
contributionto the country that gave them sanctuary. There is no doubt that
today'srefugees will do the same.

Refugee Week provides just a
glimpse of the cultural richness, energy andfriendliness that underpins
today's refugee communities. It does not justcelebrate refugees - it
celebrates all those who make the concept ofsanctuary a reality. At a time
when the extreme right is on the march acrossEurope, it provides us all an
opportunity to affirm a different set ofvalues. Across the UK, local
communities, faith groups and many othersprovide the practical help and
friendship refugees need to help them findtheir feet. Teachers welcome
refugee children into their schools, treatingthe diversity these children
bring as an opportunity not a problem. And, ofcourse, there are hundreds of
thousands of individuals who want to maketheir voice heard against the daily
flood of bogus abuse directed againstrefugees and who do not share the
thin-lipped meanness of spirit that saysBritain is full, that we cannot
accept our international responsibilitiesand that one of the richest
countries in the word cannot organise acredible, fair and humane asylum
system.

Refugees and other migrants are accused of "swamping" European
culture.Perhaps Europe should show a little humility before it uses that
term.The EUmeeting is in Seville, one of the most beautiful cities in
Europe. Thatbeauty is as much a product of hundreds of years of Islamic
culture as it isof anything that followed. When the rest of Europe was only
slowly emergingfrom barbarism, Seville and the other cities of Moorish
Andalucia werecentres of learning and civilisation.

When Mahatma
Ghandi was asked what he felt about European civilisation, hesaid he thought
it would be a "good idea". Within living memory, during thesavage civil war,
refugees were fleeing from where Tony Blair will be inSpain to other
European countries. At the mid-point of the last century,Europe created an
industrialised genocide while war was waged on civilianswith unparalleled
ferocity. More recently, thousands were massacred atSbrenica in the name of
"Christian civilisation" while the internationalcommunity stood
by.

In view of that darker European tradition, there is no reason
forcomplacency about the rise of the xenophobic right across Europe.
However,the idea that occupying their territory can avert the rise of the
far rightis a terrible error. There is a real sense of panic in the response
thatgovernment's are making. But if governments uncritically legitimise
thegenuine concerns that are there, talk tough but inevitably fail to
deliver,then that more than anything will open the door for the far right.
Lookwhere this panic has already brought us.

Refugees are not just
nameless statistics or a flood. They are individualhuman beings with mothers
and fathers, brothers and sisters, husbands, wivesand lovers. Everyday, some
of these individuals are washed ashore at thewalls of Fortress Europe, are
crushed beneath trains or are found suffocatedin the backs of lorries. It
happens so frequently now it is hardly everreported. Yet as experience has
always shown, simply raising the wallshigher and higher has little effect on
the number of people coming in - butit does increase the charges and so the
profits of the traffickers whilemaking the journey more dangerous
still.

In Denmark, once one of the most tolerant countries in Europe,
asylumseekers are forbidden to get married. In the UK massive
accommodationcentres are to be built, at vast expense in remote rural areas.
Already thewhole project is well behind schedule and the economic and
political costsare spiraling. Contrary to everything else the government is
trying to do,refugee children will be segregated from their peers and
educated in thecamps. Social exclusion has become official government
policy.

The issue of Sangatte has degenerated into a matter of national
pride andwill. Frankly, the spectacle of the worlds third and fourth
largesteconomies squabbling over the fate of a few thousand of the most
powerlesspeople on earth should be a matter of national shame not pride.
None of thisis to say that people are not right to be concerned about the
shambles intowhich the asylum system has degenerated or that radical, new
approaches arenot needed. This needs fresh thinking from refugee supporters
just as muchas it does from governments.

I start from a position that
in an international system based on nationstates, those states do have a
right to control their borders and thatpeople will want to breach these
controls for a whole variety of reasons.Within this we have an absolute set
of obligations to refugees who have beenpersecuted that do not apply to
other groups of migrants.

In the short term, it is essential we resolve
the Sangatte issue. The campitself is a symptom not the cause of the asylum
shambles. It is simplyludicrous to imagine that the closure of the camp will
itself discouragepeople who have already traveled half way round the globe
from trying to getto the UK. However, there is growing evidence that the
camp has been takenover by the trafficking gangs. It cannot be right that it
is these gangs andthe ability to climb a fence and jump a train that
determines whether youobtain asylum in the UK. Furthermore, Sangatte has now
become such a symbolof the asylum shambles that the conditions do need to be
created where itcan close.

In the short term, the solution probably
lies in a one-off joint processingmechanism between France and the UK with
agreement that the responsibilityfor those found to be in need of protection
should be shared on a humane andreasonable basis. In the longer term, no
solution is possible without aharmonised European asylum policy in which
refugees can be assured that theywill be dealt with fairly, efficiently and
humanely, wherever they are inEurope. This was agreed at the EU Summit in
Finland in 1999. Since then,progress has been painfully slow and where
agreement has been reached, it isso compromised as to be almost
meaningless.

The harmonisation process should take place on the basis of
highest existingstandards, not the lowest common denominator and be decided
by majorityvoting without a veto. That's the only way progress will be
made.

You cannot have a credible asylum system without a credible
immigrationpolicy as a whole. The idea that we can have a closed-door policy
has alwaysbeen a fantasy. Even now, far more people enter the country with
workpermits than do as asylum seekers. But there is still too
littleacknowledgement that Britain needs both skilled and unskilled
economicmigrants - particularly as the ratio of the working to
non-workingpopulation declines.

At present, of course people enter
the country illegally or use the asylumsystem because they want to work here
- and if they did not, as anyone wholives or works in our major cities
knows, the service and constructionindustries would grind to a halt.
Furthermore, the remittances people sendhome far outstrips any aid budget -
making a nonsense of the policy thatdeveloping countries can be forced to
co-operate with restrictive Europeanmigration policies by threatening a
reduction in their aid.

Even with a more sensible immigration policy,
pressure on the asylum systemwill remain.

A big part of the problem
is that as global migration increases, sogovernments increase measures to
control those movements leading to thesituation where there is now almost no
way a refugee can legally get to theUK. You need a visa to get to the UK
from every country that producesrefugees. You can not get a visa for being a
refugee and if an airline orany other carrier takes you without the right
paperwork, they will beheavily fined. So people turn to the traffickers who
grow fat on theproceeds.

We need a much more pro-active approach to
protecting refugees. It should bepossible for some to apply for asylum at UK
embassies abroad. This would notwork for everyone, but it would work for
some. We also need a much moregenerous approach right across Europe to the
UN's resettlement programmewhere countries agree to take a significant quota
of refugees from some ofthe world's most intractable refugee situations.
This needs to be combinedwith a global approach to tackle the root causes of
forced migration -tackling the inequalities of wealth between North and
South, taking earlyconflict prevention measures and assisting those
developing countries thatalready shoulder by far and away the greatest
responsibility for supportingthe world's refugees.

But this must not
be at the expense of individual asylum seekers who willcontinue to arrive
spontaneously. In the 1930's, Jewish refugees who arrivedin the UK as part
of organised programmes or who had guarantees of work herewere allowed to
stay. Those who made their own way here and enteredillegally were sent back
to the continent where many later perished. It wasout of this experience
that the individual right of asylum, with each caseconsidered on its merits,
was enshrined in the Geneva Convention.

So what ever happens, we will
still need a system for determining individualasylum claims. The truth is
that the current system is now completelydiscredited. Almost nobody has
confidence in the decision making process.Refugees wait months or years for
a decision which when it comes often seemsludicrously perverse and
unfair.

The public see a system that is manifestly failing to distinguish
betweenthose that need protection and those that do not - and fails to
ensurerefugees are helped to rebuild their lives here or return those who do
nothave a good claim to remain.

There is little chance of this being
rectified as long as the day to daymanagement of the system is in the hands
of politicians who are inevitablyfocussed on the next day's headlines. The
time has come to depoliticise theissue. The Refugee Council supports the
establishment of an independentRefugee Board, as they have in Canada, to
take charge of the asylum system.The Board should have publicly appointed
commissioners, accountable toParliament, responsible for delivering quick,
good quality, legallydefensible asylum decisions.

There needs to be a
fundamental change in the decision making culture awayfrom an adversarial
system in which both sides try to destroy the other caseregardless of the
facts to an inquisitorial system whose purpose is toestablish the
truth.

A first step would be to have an independent country assessment
procedure sothat we could avoid the sort of bizarre situation that occurred
earlier inthe year when the Foreign Office was demanding sanctions on
Zimbabwe becauseof the human rights abuses while the Home Office was
claiming there was noreason for people to want to leave.

It is
important that all the facts of a case are brought out an early stageand
asylum seekers should have proper representation to do this. However,
ifnecessary there should be even stronger regulation of legal advisers
toachieve this. There is still too much unethical, obstructive and down
rightincompetent advice being given that damages the credibility of the
wholesystem.

We also need to manage the reception of asylum seekers
much better. It isperfectly reasonable to expect people to co-operate with
the system whilethey wait for a decision. It is also reasonable to say that
if asylumseekers needs accommodation while they wait that it should be
provided inareas where there is a housing surplus rather than a shortage -
providedthis is done is an efficient and reasonable way.

It is ironic
that just as the current dispersal system is slowly beginningto improve, the
government is planning to introduce large reception centresin rural areas to
replace it.

The truth is that the government's proposals for large
centres are wrong inprinciple and unworkable in practice. All the experience
of these sort ofcentres in other parts of Europe is that asylum seekers end
up staying inthem for years and become heavily institutionalised. They will
take years todevelop, cost hundreds of millions of pounds and distract
attention fromimproving the current dispersal system which what ever
happens, will remainin place for years to come.

The Refugee Council
advocates networks of much smaller centres, in urbanareas that already have
a diverse population. These could deliver a muchbetter managed process,
provide support to local services used by asylumseekers and be quicker and
cheaper to develop.

Contrary to the myths about asylum, about 50% of all
those who reach the endof the decision making process are allowed to stay -
about 25 - 35% of firstdecisions result in refugee status or exceptional
leave to remain onhumanitarian grounds; most of those who are refused go on
to appeal andabout 20% of appeals are successful; furthermore, the Home
Office back downon a lot of rejected cases before they even get to
appeal.

Yet despite the governments rhetoric about citizenship, English
language andsocial exclusion only a tiny effort is directed to the
integration effort.There are six civil servants working on integration
compared with tens ofthousands working on control. The asylum system costs
hundreds of millionsof pounds each year. But these costs are not the costs
of asylum seekers -they are the costs of trying to keep them out. Let people
work legally andpay there way when they first arrive - as all the polls
suggest the publicwould support, and help refugees rebuild and use their
skills to contributeto a society that recognises their worth - and any
assistance people needwhen they first arrive will be repaid many times
over.

Above all what we need on this issue is real leadership. In the
past, theinternational community has been prepared to adopt comprehensive
and globalsolutions to refugee crises - in Europe after the Second World War
andtowards the Vietnamese Boat people.

Such an approach is viable
now. It needs to be combined with a determinedeffort to lead public opinion,
to tackle racism and xenophobia head on andchallenge the myths and prejudice
that surround refugees.

Always, in even Europe's darkest moments, there
has been another traditionof individuals and organisations who have been
prepared to raise analternative voice and with the courage to speak out
against prevailingopinion. Refugee Week is a fantastic - and enjoyable -
opportunity to assertthose different values and to remind the politicians
that there are manypeople who are proud we give sanctuary to refugees and
are confident andgenerous enough to welcome them.It is a chance to show that
there are manypeople in the UK today who are part of that alternative
tradition and whowill be able to hold their heads up when in years to come
this period ofpanic and intolerance is looked back on in shame.

Nick
Hardwick is Chief Executive of The Refugee Council. Full details of allthe
Refugee Week events can be found online at www.refugeeweek.org.uk

MASVINGO-Traditional leaders say the road accidents
which claimed 48lives in two days in Masvingo last week are the
manifestation of the angerof the spirits over the organisation of a Zanu PF
unity gala at the GreatZimbabwe monument late last year, a gala which had
resulted in the shrinebeing desecrated and defiled.

In separate
interviews with The Standard, the traditional leaders,shaken by the worst
road carnage to hit Masvingo in recent years, said theprovince was paying
the price for the Zanu PF misdemeanours.

On the eve of Unity
Day, thousands of people thronged the GreatZimbabwe monument to participate
in a Zanu PF organised gala hosted by thelikes of Joshua Sacco, a white
Chimanimani-based musician.

During the gala, Sacco parodied a
Zimbabwean son-in-law welcomingvisitors to the sacred shrine held in high
esteem in the whole of SouthernAfrica. Sacco and other musicians also took
it in turns to swipe at whitesand the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
at the function which wasbroadcast live on television.

There
was no prior consultation with the traditional leadership,including Chief
Mugabe under whose area the monument falls. Instead, Zanu PFwent ahead with
it in its eagerness to obtain political mileage ahead of theMarch 2002
presidential election.

The following day, when the traditionalists
visited the shrine theywere shocked to see used condoms, empty beer bottles
and human waste strewnall over the revered place. They took this as evidence
of the manyabominable acts which had been committed at the shrine during the
gala, actswhich could arouse the anger of the spirits, they
said.

Nobody in Masvingo had anticipated that these kind of things
couldhappen at Great Zimbabwe, they said.

A concerned Chief
Murinye, who has in the past criticised Zanu PF foroverriding the views of
the traditional leaders even on traditional matters,said: "We knew this
debacle would come one day. How could the governmentallow a gala to be held
at the Great Zimbabwe monument? You can't organise afunction at a sacred
place and have drunken youths and promiscuous elderscoming to engage in
sexual activities and to defecate the shrine.

Has anything like
that happened in our history?" he said adding, "Theyeven allowed musicians
to come and play their guitars. These instrumentshave not been played at the
shrine since the monuments were constructed. Idon't want to frighten people,
but mark my words, a lot of disasters willoccur in the province unless Zanu
PF swallows its pride and rectifies itsstupid mistake."

A
well-respected spirit medium, Dickson Levy Marufu, said Zanu PF'sholding of
celebrations at Great Zimbabwe had angered the ancestral spirits.

Marufu predicted that aeroplanes would crash and hundreds of peoplewould die
if no action was taken to cleanse the shrine.

"While I feel sorry
for Masvingo in these, the darkest moments of itshistory, I am confident
that the situation will worsen if the politicalleadership refuses to sort
out its mess. Ministers are taking this lightly,but once they start
perishing themselves I tell you, they will react fast,"said
Marufu.

Chief Mugabe has in the past voiced concern over how he
wasdisregarded over the organisation of the gala.

Interviewed
by the ZBC last month, Chief Mugabe did not mince hiswords when slamming the
government for making arbitrary decisions ontraditional
matters.

"I am aware that some people have gained mileage out of
it, but thisis unacceptable. You can not come and hold celebrations at this
sacred placewithout consulting with the traditional leadership," he
said.

However, Masvingo governor, Josaya Hungwe, dismissed the
chief'scriticism saying the government did not need anyone's permission to
holdnational celebrations.

BULAWAYO-About 50 Zanu PF youth militias who have been
terrorisingresidents of Njube and Entumbane suburbs in Bulawayo have fled
the area amidfears of an imminent clash with residents.

The
youths are reported to have left in haste last week followingstrong rumours
that local youths were planning a second attack in two monthson the Zanu PF
base at E Square.

Njube residents rose against an estimated 200
Zanu PF thugs followingpost election attacks in March, forcing the
withdrawal of a majority of themilitia. Only 50 hardcore militia who played
a leading role in thedisruption of MDC pre-election rallies at White City
Stadium remained.

Residents who spoke to The Standard said the
departure of the terrorgang had restored a sense of security after three
months of terror bymarauding Zanu PF youths.

"We are very
relieved that this force of terror has left. We can nowsend our children to
the shops without fear," said a resident.

Last month, there were
reports that the youths were waylaying childrenand the elderly on their way
from shopping centres and grabbing foodstuffsand cash.

The
youths claimed that they had resorted to daylight robbery becauseZanu PF had
abandoned them.

'They were a nuisance around here. They said the
party had not onlyfailed to pay them the promised lump sum of $18 000, but
abandoned them aswell," said a resident.

BULAWAYO-The beleaguered
Zimpapers has stopped exporting its twoBulawayo papers, The Chronicle and
The Sunday News, to Botswana afterrealising that no-one there is interested
in their products.

Sources in the circulation department told The
Standard last week thatthe two papers, going for P2.50, were no longer
circulating in Zimbabwe'sneighbouring country.

"They
realised that this was a wild goose chase-it was a case of justwasting money
by sending papers where they were not wanted. The Tswanas arenot interested
in propaganda packaged as news," said a source.

When contacted for
comment, Zimpapers chief executive officer BramwellKamudyariwa, through his
secretary, said he could not respond to questionsfrom The Standard as he was
in a meeting.

Zimpapers started sending its publications to other
countries,including Britain, last year in a move that was widely regarded as
adesperate attempt to disseminate the embattled Zanu PF
government'spropaganda to the outside world.

"Even Francistown
advertisers who used to place full page adverts inThe Chronicle before it
went on sale in Botswana had withdrawn theirsupport, citing the ever
dropping circulation of the two papers in thiscountry," said the
source.

At its peak, The Chronicle used to print 40 000 copies, but
its printrun has gone down to about 9 000 copies.

BULAWAYO-Former Zipra
combatants in Bulawayo and villagers in someparts of Tsholotsho district
have dismissed home affairs minister, JohnNkomo's proclamation that
government will start development projects ascompensation for relatives of
victims of the Gukurahundi massacres by thegovernment's Fifth
Brigade.

Max Mnkandla , the spokesman for the group, said they
found Nkomo'sannouncement strange and hollow as it did not address most
problems whichwere caused by Gukurahundi.

Mnkandla added
that the priority should be to bring to justice thosewho were responsible
for the campaign which saw an estimated 20 000civilians perish at the hands
of the North Korean-trained brigade, which hassince been
disbanded.

Mnkandla said pushing for compensation without justice
demonstratedZanu PF's reluctance to put the matter to rest by bringing the
perpetratorsto book. He said Nkomo's announcement missed the point and
completelyignored the major problems facing thousands of Gukurahundi victims
acrossMatabeleland.

"Large numbers of orphans were left without
care, wives withouthusbands while others disappeared without trace. It is
still impossible formost of these people to obtain identity cards. The fact
that Nkomo, as theresponsible registration minister, has not done anything
to address thisproblem after so many years indicates deliberate action on
the part of ZanuPF and the government," said Mnkandla.

Gukurahundi victims have often failed to secure identity cards as
theregistry department which falls under Nkomo's ministry requires them
tobring parents or witnesses to confirm that they are making correct
entries.However, some people lost all relatives in the genocide which often
saw theFifth Brigade round up, shoot, bayonet, burn or bury entire families
andvillages.

Villagers in Gulalikabili, west of Tsholotsho,
where two people wereallegedly buried alive on 2 February 1983 have also
dismissed thegovernment's intended compensation manoeuvre as a painful
insult.

"It doesn't make sense for anyone to give us projects in
place of theloved ones we lost. What we want is justice. Simple justice is
what we want," said Elmon Nleya, a village elder who said he witnessed a
number ofmurders and knows of mass graves in his and adjoining
villages.

"Implementing projects is an obligation for the
government. Are we tobelieve that our areas were not going to have projects
if our loved ones hadnot been killed? The government should give us money to
rebury the dead whostill lie in mass graves and mine shafts all over the
region," said a Sanelder whose family was herded into a hut and burnt to
death. Most villagerssay government should stop making irresponsible
political statements as ifit suddenly cared about the victims of its own
terror.

Former Zipra combatants have also renewed calls for the
return offarms and associated properties which were confiscated by Zanu PF
at theheight of Gukurahundi. President Robert Mugabe declared soon after the
deathof former Vice President Joshua Nkomo that the crimes committed
duringGukurahundi should be forgotten as it was "a moment of madness" which
shouldnot be repeated.

But Zipra combatants insist that the
statement is not justice and havecalled for the trial of the "madmen" who
are still holding high profile jobsin the government and army. Prominent
figures associated with theGukurahundi atrocities include Mugabe himself and
Air Force of Zimbabwecommander, Perence Shiri, who headed the infamous Fifth
Brigade. Shiri wasknown as 'Black Jesus' among his victims in
Matabeleland.

Mugabe is recorded by the Catholic Commission for
Justice and Peace(CCJP) report on Gukurahundi as defending the action of the
troops in thevillages of Matabeleland. "...we eradicate them. We don't
differentiate whenwe fight because we can't tell who is a dissident and who
is not," the CCJPreport quotes him as saying in April 1983.

Mugabe is also accused of making statements which incited hissupporters to
embark on the 1985 post-election persecution of Zapusupporters which left
one dead and several homeless.

The president is reported to have
told his supporters to "go anduproot the weeds from your
garden".

Emmerson Mnangagwa, then minister of state security is
also quoted bythe CCJP as telling a 1983 Victoria Falls rally that
government would "burndown all villages infested with dissidents", adding
that "the campaignagainst dissidents could only succeed if the
infrastructure that nurturesthem is destroyed".

The report also
quotes Sidney Sekeramayi as accusing the foreign pressof spreading malicious
lies when it reported on the killings.

Meanwhile Nkomo announced
that provincial governors and traditionalleaders would identify project
needs and priorities while government wouldprovide funding.

The international community must tighten sanctions against the Zimbabwean
government to force President Robert Mugabe to accept an election re-run, a
political think-tank has said.

In a report released on Friday, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group
(ICG) said Zimbabwe's political, social and economic crisis was worsening while
international policymakers and media looked elsewhere.

But it added: "Zimbabwe is not a lost cause." "Conflict prevention based on
democracy, rule of law, and a functioning economy can succeed, but only if the
key international actors, led by the Africans themselves, throw their full
weight behind a genuine negotiating process before the grievances are taken into
the streets," the group said in its report, which was published on the
Internet.

The think-tank, which is funded by governments, charities and business,
charged that Mugabe's supporters were using violence and intimidation against
the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and civil society to
force them to accept Mugabe's victory in March presidential elections.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called Mugabe's March victory "daylight
robbery" and has gone to court to challenge the result.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has placed British Ambassador Brian Donnelly, under
surveillance, over accusations that he is co-ordinating efforts to overthrow
Mugabe, government officials said yesterday.

The officials, including the chief police spokesman, confirmed an article
printed in the government-controlled Herald newspaper reporting that Donnelly
had been placed on 24-hour surveillance by security agents.

Zimbabwe imposes $12,000 fee for media license
AFP Harare, June 16 Foreign media organisations must pay a fee of 12,000 US
dollars to operate in Zimbabwe under new press regulations, the state newspaper
The Sunday Mail reported.

The rules also call for a 1,050 dollar fee for any Zimbabwean journalist
working for a foreign media organization, and a foreign journalist seeking
temporary accreditation must pay 600 dollars.

Local media organizations must pay 520,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($9,454 at the
official rate) to operate, while individual Zimbabwean journalists working for
news organizations each must pay 6,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($109) and freelancers
will be charged 3,000 dollars.

The fees were set under a tough new media law promulgated in March under
which the governement may prohibit a press organization from operating in
Zimbabwe, or refuse accreditation to individual journalists.

The press law, enacted just days after President Robert Mugabe's
controversial re-election in March, imposes stiff limits on independent and
foreign press organizations in Zimbabwe.

Since it took effect, 11 journalists have been arrested -- some more than
once -- and nine face prosecution on one or more charges.

DESPITE
the violent invasion of their fields by machete-wielding supportersof Robert
Mugabe, Zimbabwe's tobacco farmers raised a bigger-than-expectedcrop this
year. Plump bundles of the weed sell at auction in Harare for thehealthy
price of $1.65 a kilo. The farmers, who are the country's largestexporters,
should be content. They are not, because the government isgrabbing most of
their takings through a rigged exchange rate.

The local currency, the
Zimbabwe dollar, has been pegged at 55 to theAmerican dollar for nearly two
years, despite inflation of over 100%. If theblack market is anything to go
by, the Zimbabwe dollar is overvalued by afactor of ten. Yet tobacco farmers
have to surrender all hard-currencyreceipts to the government, which pays
them at the official rate in nice,freshly printed Zim dollars. To avoid hard
feelings, the government givesthem a subsidy that boosts their takings by
four-fifths, but this does notnearly cover their costs.

Zimbabwe's
currency rules serve two purposes. One is nationalistic: someministers argue
that devaluation would be a surrender to westernimperialism. The second is
practical. Mr Mugabe's cronies use theirconnections to obtain hard currency
at the official rate and then sell it onthe black market for a tenfold
mark-up. The finance minister, an amiabletechnocrat named Simba Makoni,
admits that the peg has had "seriousrepercussions on export
competitiveness", and has called for a managedfloat. But the rest of the
cabinet has, for some reason, ignored him.

Ordinary Zimbabweans do their
best to dodge the rules. Households andcompanies have been shifting money
out of the country, by understatingexport receipts or simply flying to
London with cash sewn into their coats.At last year's tobacco auctions,
foreign buyers found that nothing preventedthem from paying in local
currency, so they changed their American dollarson the black market and
snapped up some phenomenal bargains.

This year, all payments must be made
in hard currency, direct to thegovernment. Tough border controls and
frequent roadblocks stop farmerssmuggling their bulky product out of the
country. Indeed, a lot of innocentcommerce has been criminalised. A senior
opposition politician was arrestedlast month for trying to take a truckload
of maize to his farm, to feed hishungry workers. Basic foods are subject to
price controls and a statemonopsony-the police said he should have sold his
maize to the government,for distribution to the poor (ie, ruling-party
supporters).

Before March's presidential election, the Zimbabwe dollar
was buoyed by therepatriation of some of the funds that politicians had
squirrelled away inforeign bank accounts-they feared that these might be
frozen by sanctionsagainst the regime. Since Mr Mugabe managed to steal the
election withoutattracting more than mild sanctions, the elite feels more
secure. Thecountry's productive citizens, meanwhile, faced with the prospect
that theirrulers will never surrender power, are in despair. Hence the
Zimbabwedollar's freefall over the past couple of weeks, from 300 to the
Americandollar on the black market to 500. The black market is no longer
fuelled byfirms that need to import spare parts. One businessman says that
"it issimply people getting whatever they can out of here".

Mr Makoni
says he fears the economy will contract by 10% this year. To putthis into
perspective, GDP in Congo, where Mr Mugabe's army, along withvarious others,
is fighting a calamitous war, shrank only half as fast lastyear.

In another sign the government's campaign against dissent
was heating up, astate run newspaper reported big new fees would be imposed
on journalistsreporting from Zimbabwe.

After firing tear gas, police
charged the crowd with clubs at the gatheringSunday held at a public garden
in Harare to commemorate the role youth haveplayed in the fight for
democracy in southern Africa.

Opposition Movement for Democratic Change
lawmaker, Tendai Biti, vowed tokeep up the struggle for democracy in this
troubled southern Africancountry.

Last week state run media reported
that President Robert Mugabe put securityforces on high alert to crush any
mass demonstrations that might call for are-run of presidential elections
held in March, in which Mugabe was declaredthe winner despite the
condemnation of observer groups who said the vote wasmarred by rigging and
intimidation.

Severe new security and media
laws were passed shortly before Mugabe'sre-election in what human rights
groups say is a bid to silence oppositionto his rule.

The government
run Sunday Mail reported that as part of the new media law,journalists have
to pay large fees to be allowed to keep working. Zimbabweannewspapers will
have to pay $12,700 for their licenses. Local journalistsworking for foreign
media organizations will have to pay $1,050, foreignnews agencies will have
to pay $1,200. Those working for foreign mediaorganizations will have to pay
in foreign currency.

As the Zimbabwean dollar continues to tumble in
value, the move appeared tobe a quick way for the government to make
money.

Zimbabwe's independent media editors and correspondents for
foreign newsorganizations have vowed to fight the media law regulations in
the courts.

Twelve independent journalists have been arrested for
violating the medialaw.

Zimbabwean Govt demands massive fees under new media
lawsThe Zimbabwean Government is demanding unprecedented fees to register
andaccredit media organisations and journalists under a tough new media
law,which critics say is designed to curtail press freedom.

The
regulations, published in the official Sunday Mail newspaper, requireforeign
media to spend large sums on operating licences and accreditingtheir
journalists.

The rules demand a domestic mass media organisation pay
Z$20,000 to applyand Z$500,000 to register its operations, while a foreign
mediarepresentative office needs $US2,000 for its application and $US10,000
forregistration.

In addition, Zimbabwean correspondents for foreign
media are required to paya $US50 application fee and $US1,000 for
accreditation.

The Zimbabwe dollar has been officially pegged at 55 to
the US unit sinceNovember 2000, but is trading at more than 600 to the
dollar in the localparallel market.

Until now, the Government has
only charged nominal fees to accreditjournalists for special
events.

The notices were published in a government gazette on Saturday,
but it wasnot widely available this week.

The Sunday Mail reports
media companies that are already registered underthe companies act and
journalists with existing press cards would be allowedto operate until their
applications have been processed.

In other regulations, the newly
appointed Government Media andInformation Commission has the power to refuse
to register a media firm oraccredit a journalist but is obliged to give
reasons.

In addition, the new media law requires companies to disclose
theirfinancial status and operating projections, and pay an annual levy of
0.5per cent of their audited annual gross turnover into a media
fund.

Foreigners are barred from working in Zimbabwe as correspondents
for theircompanies, but those allowed in "for specified periods" will do so
for$US600.

Journalists working for foreign companies in Zimbabwe have
gone to thecountry's highest court to challenge the new media law, under
whichPresident Robert Mugabe's Government has charged 11 journalists in the
lastthree months.

The Foreign Correspondents Association of Zimbabwe
is also contesting theconstitutionality of some sections of the Access to
Information andProtection of Privacy Act.

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Riot police used
teargas and fired shots in the air onSunday to halt a Zimbabwe opposition
rally held to mark South Africa's youthday, arresting more than 30 activists
and a freelance television journalist.

A freelance journalist at the
scene said police armed with batons, guns andteargas attacked the rally of
the main opposition Movement for DemocraticChange (MDC) 20 minutes after it
had begun.

The rally was commemorating anti-apartheid protests
in South Africa in 1976when police killed hundreds of
students.

Police Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said the police
had stoppedthe rally because some MDC activists had gone around the city
beating peopleup and trying to provoke trouble.

"We had told the
organisers they could not hold their rally at the HarareGardens because that
venue and the city atmosphere is not conducive forpolitical gatherings," he
told Reuters.

"We based our decision on the Public Order and Security
Order (POSA) but wehad agreed that they could hold their rally at their
offices. We intervenedwhen their people went around trying to provoke a
situation," he added.

Bvudzijena said police had arrested 15
people.

Edwina Spicer said her husband had been asked to report to the
police afterfilming at the MDC rally.

"When he presented himself to
the police, he was arrested and locked up buthas not been told under what
charge they are holding him," Spicer said. TheSpicers' son is an MDC youth
leader.

Chamisa denied the MDC was out to cause trouble and accused the
police ofbeing heavy-handed. "The bottom line is that they are out to attack
uswhenever we try to carry out normal political activities," he
said.

The MDC says Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party has been trying to
destroy itsstructures and has disrupted many of its public meetings since
PresidentRobert Mugabe won a controversial presidential election in
March.

The election was condemned as seriously flawed by Western powers
and MDCleader Morgan Tsvangirai is demanding a re-run.

Mugabe,
Zimbabwe's ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, says hewon fairly
and accuses the West of trying to impose Tsvangirai as leader ofthe southern
African state.

Herewith the speech by Wildlife Chair Wally Herbst presented
last week. Itis of interest as is the first edition of the Wildlife Notice
Board 11 June2002 by the "Voice for the Voiceless" Lobby Group which is on
Wordattachment.

The updated figure of Wildlife/ Tourism losses in the
agricultural sector asa direct result of land invasions runs to over Z$ 6.3
billion. Taking intoaccount the low rate of return from Matabeleland, these
figures areconservative.

It is with a certain degree of
sadness that we hold this 16th Annual Generalmeeting.In 1985, a group of
people met under a tree in the Lowveld and discussed themerits of a producer
association for wildlife and from there the Associationwas born. They had
this vision of a producer association that was allencompassing of the
environment and where there was money to be made fromsafaris, lodges and
wildlife translocations. There was even talk about largebuses and aircraft
that would ferry hundreds of tourists around commercialfarms in air
conditioned comfort all being controlled by radio. High idealsand
expectations indeed! People went ahead and built luxury safari camps,dotted
around the country and now they are mostly in mothballs.
ProfessionalHunter's Licenses were sought, tour operator's licenses obtained
andeveryone with a 4x4 vehicle, a fox terrier and a rifle was hunting.
Wildlifeand tourism on commercial farms was on the move. National Parks had
createdan enabling environment for the production of wildlife, allowing
capturesand translocation and even exports. To get permits was a pleasure
comparedto today.o Between 1991 and 2001 - 39661 wild animals were
caught and sold. Totalvalue Z$ 280 million dollars.o Since the mid 70's
to date over 150,000 have been captured andtranslocated so providing founder
populations and the foundation for theAssociation 's existence.o In 1995
alone a survey of 351 Members resulted in 250,600 animals
beingrecorded.o Wildlife as a land use had been established.o The
Association then produced a farm stay brochure listing 36 tourist gameranch
and game farm destinations.o Committees were established to cover disease
free Buffalo, Lichtenstein'sHartebeest, Bow hunting, Venison, Rhino,
Domesticated Elephant and export.o This sector provided the bulk of
Zimbabwe's Plains's game hunting.o Conservation practices had to follow and
did.o Imports and Exports flowed.

In 1999 the Association's outlook
could not have been brighter or for thatmatter of fact Zimbabwe's commercial
wildlife sector.

However, the euphoria was short lived. We lost the
services of Dr. Nduku andGeorge Pangetti and got the infamous SI 26 of 1998
and immediately permitsbecame a nightmare. Export of wildlife was suspended
and the decline in thefortunes of the producer and consequently the WPA
started. We sort of limpedalong for about four years until the farm
invasions started and we watchedthe rapid decline of the fortunes of
commercial wildlife operators and theflora and fauna they
championed.

It is estimated conservatively that we have lost about 50% of
our wildlife,65% of ourtourism in the country and up to 90% safari
hunting on commercial farms, anda huge reduction in capture and
translocations of wildlife. As for exports,there has been no export for some
seven years, although accusations ofillegal exports from Settlers and
National Parks abound. This is all as adirect result of the so-called fast
track resettlement. This is despite thehard efforts of people like Mr.
Gatora to try to persuade people to stoppoaching and destroying the
environment. Well, Sir, I want to tell you nowthat in spite of your appeals
and pleas, there is no let up on the slaughterof our wildlife. Thousands of
snares are still being recovered, completewith dead animals still in them.
Vehicles continually drive on to commercialfarms, with letters from the D A,
Rural District Councils, ProvincialWardens and the occupants shoot at will,
first for independencecelebrations, then to feed the militia and then just
to commercialise andcapitalise on the lack of the rule of law in the
country. We reportvehicles poaching to the police complete with Govt
registration numbers andthey say, "it is political, there is nothing we can
do about it". It is awar zone out there and the losers are the wildlife and
ultimately we asZimbabweans. If the rule of law is not restored and
poaching stopped NOW wewill have to pour money into the Natural History
Museum to show our childrenwhat wonderful wildlife we used to have. I also
hear that the poaching inthe National Parks is getting out of control with
pressure back on theelephant. We hear in the media of up to thirty Rhinos
lost since landinvasions started. But no one is saying how many - why? How
are we ascustodians supposed to support our CITES stance when we daily watch
thepoaching tally mount. How many pieces of paper with poaching stats must
beproduced before our Ministry acts. Stats are but history.

Just to
highlight the slaughter of our animals we have so diligentlymanaged, let me
quote from but two areas and ask the question "What if".Matabeleland South
(Game Ranching)

Why has Government and in particular our Ministry
and National Parks notstopped or condemned such practices in writing that
all law enforcementagencies could have the ability to react
positively?

The current Parks initiative to validate losses is
commendable but too lateto save the hundreds of thousands of dead animals or
is it a ploy to regainsome credibility or perhaps our statistics sent to
Parks are not trusted?

To day, we have to debate an extremely
emotional resolution, the possibleclosure of this association. Let me try to
analyse why this might have tobe.

The resolution in front of us to
day is very real and potentially the deaththrows of the industry, as we know
it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, when you debate this resolution, do not just
say theassociation must continue but tell your Executive how you, the
members,propose to fund the association. It is very easy to tell us not to
close,but if there are no funds we will have to close. A number of
suggestionshave already been made, such as amalgamation, downsizing and
subscriptionincrease. These all need debate.

It remains for me to
thank the staff and particularly John White, for workdone under extremely
difficult circumstances. How you have managed tocontinue working for the
members under these conditions is an inspiration toall. To my Executives,
who work for no reward from WPA, thanks as well. Inparticular those like
Gordon Taylor who have been in from the start. Infact a team, and it does
take a team, of dedicated individuals who charteredthe way forward for
Zimbabwe.

I wish you a fruitful debate.

WALLY HERBST -
CHAIRMAN

Resolution tabled: "The adverse conditions constraining
wildlifeproduction - conservation and sustainable utilization within the
Large ScaleCommercial Farming Sector due to land resettlement have over the
last twoyears affected the Association's financial base, to the point that
it is nolonger able to adequately fund itself.Accordingly it is proposed
that the association be closed and dissolved inaccordance with the
Constitution of the wildlife Producers association".RESULTAfter debate
on this resolution it was decided to raise membership fees andinvoke a levy
designed to tide the Association through these troubled timesas there was a
dire need for a lobby group such as the WPA to carry farmersthrough the hard
times. The motion was therefore rejected by a majority ofmembers and the
executive tasked with finding a survival strategy
forproducers.

Leadership of the Association was retained as it stood
with Wally Herbstremaining as chairman and Wynand Hart as vice
chairman.

For more information, please contactJenni Williams on
Mobile (+263) 91 300456 or 11213 885 Or on emailjennipr@mweb.co.zwor Fax (+2639) 63978
or (+2634) 703829 or email : prnews@mweb.co.zwA member of the
International Association of Business Communicators. Visitthe IABC website
www.iabc.co.za

Officials in Zimbabwe claimed yesterday that the British high
commissioner, Brian Donnelly, had been placed under 24-hour police surveillance
following allegations that he is co-ordinating efforts to overthrow Robert
Mugabe. The Foreign Office has rejected the accusations against Donnelly. "The
British high commissioner is not and has never been involved in this kind of
activity," it said in a statement. The high commission in Harare said the
57-year-old diplomat was on leave at an unspecified location and there were "no
concerns about his wellbeing". Zimbabwean police confirmed a report in
yesterday’s edition of The Herald, the government-controlled newspaper, which
said Donnelly was being watched by security agents because of "activities to
undermine the legitimate government of President Mugabe". It followed a story in
the paper last week - dismissed by the Foreign Office as rubbish – that claimed
Donnelly had established a "sophisticated communications network" to co-ordinate
an opposition rebellion.

The reports are seen as a sign that Mugabe, 78, could be
planning a new purge as the opposition Movement for Democratic Change prepares
to stage mass demonstrations in the next few weeks. Assistant commissioner Wayne
Bvudzijena, the chief police spokesman, said surveillance of Donnelly would
"allow the security organs to establish his activities". Anything incompatible
with his diplomatic status would be reported to Zimbabwe’s foreign affairs
department. A Zimbabwe government official said Donnelly’s diplomatic immunity
meant he would not be arrested. "But it doesn’t mean that his activities will be
tolerated," he said. The Herald claimed Donnelly, who arrived in Zimbabwe a year
ago from Belgrade, was widely thought to be a high-profile intelligence officer.
"It is believed that Mr Donnelly was sent to Zimbabwe to execute a Milosevic
type of operation to oust President Mugabe from power," it said. Donnelly was
Britain’s ambassador to the former Yugoslavia when President Slobodan Milosevic
was driven from power two years ago.

The newspaper claimed Donnelly had been named in a plot by two
officials of the Law Society of Zimbabwe who face subversion charges. Sternford
Moyo and Wilbert Mapombere were said to have written letters to the high
commission expressing gratitude for support given by Britain to help "restore
the rule of law". Lawyers, journalists, farmers and business people who
"frequented or were frequented by Donnelly and his British intelligence
operatives" are also under surveillance, The Herald said. Donnelly has also
served in Greece and at Nato in Brussels since he joined the diplomatic service
in 1973. He has rejected frequent claims in the state-controlled media that he
is a political saboteur. Zimbabwe’s relations with Britain have been
increasingly strained since February 2000 when gangs of so-called war veterans
began violent invasions of white-owned farms as part of Mugabe’s land reform
programme. A report by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think
tank, has given a warning that Zimbabwe is sliding towards civil war and accuses
Britain and other European Union countries of doing little to stop it.

From The Observer (UK), 16
June

British diplomat accused of plot
against Mugabe

Harare - Relations between London and Harare reached a new low
yesterday when Zimbabwe placed the British High Commissioner, Brian Donnelly,
under surveillance over accusations that he is co-ordinating efforts to
overthrow President Robert Mugabe. The allegations were flatly rejected by
Britain. Officials, including the chief police spokesman, confirmed an article
which appeared in yesterday's edition of the government-controlled Herald
newspaper. A Foreign Office spokeswoman in London said: 'The High Commissioner
is not and has never been involved in these kind of activities. The allegations
in the Zimbabwean press are baseless.' The Herald cited allegations that
Donnelly was plotting to overthrow the government through mass demonstrations
and that he would be commanding the operations from hi-tech mobile
communications centres to be deployed throughout the country'. It was also
alleged that Donnelly, who was the British ambassador to Yugoslavia until a year
ago, was masterminding plans to oust Mugabe in a 'Milosevic-type of operation'.
Zimbabwe government officials said Donnelly would not be arrested because he has
diplomatic immunity. 'But because he cannot be arrested, it doesn't mean that
his activities will be tolerated,' said one official, who declined to be named.
Recent warnings from Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition party Movement
for Democratic Change, that there would be mass protests against Mugabe's
continued rule may have rattled the government. 'These so-called plots and
conspiracies are the creation of an increasingly paranoid regime,' said Iden
Wetherell, editor of the Zimbabwe Independent . 'The only plot in Harare is the
overwhelming desire of the majority of people to be rid of an unpopular
dictator.'